Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/714

634 Uses : — It is regarded by the Hindus as stomachic, carminative and astringent ; useful in dyspepsia and diarrhœa. It is thought to be very cooling, and on that account forms a part of most prescriptions for gonorrhœa (Dymock).

Like Kála zira, it is also used as a lactagogue.

Sanskrit authors recommend a poultice made of cumin seeds with the addition of honey, salt and clarified butter to be applied externally for scorpion-bites (Dutt). {{rule|6em|| {{c|{{larger|585. Daucus Carota, Linn,}} {{sc| h.f.b.i., ii.}} 718, Roxb. 270.}}

Sans. : — Garjara.

Vern. : — Gâjar (H. and B.) ; Gajjara, Manjal-mullangi (Tam.) ; Pita-kanda (Tel.) ; Mor mûj, Bui mûj, Kâch (Kashmir) ; Zârdak (Pushtu) ; Petaigâgar (Sind).

Habitat : — Kashmir and the Western Himalaya ; cultivated elsewhere in India.

Annual or biennial herbs, hispid. Stem 1-4 (in the Himalaya, often 6ft.) Leaves 2-3-pinnate, pinnatifid segments, narrow-lanceolate. Bracteoles many, 3-frd and simple. Umbels compound, rays usually many ; outer rays connivent in fruit. Calyx-teeth small or obsolete. Petals obovate, emarginate, white, outer often radiant. Fruit elliptic, 1/10in. ; bristles on the secondary ridges glistening white, connate at the base only of the primary ridges, small or sessile, sub-glochidiate. Carpophore undivided. Vittæ solitary under the secondary ridges.

Uses : — The seeds are considered to be a nervine tonic. Boiled with honey and fermented, they produce a spirituous liquor. A decoction of the leaves and seeds is said to be used by natives as a stimulant to the uterus during parturition. The roots are made into a marmalade and considered refrigerant (Emerson.)

In the Punjab, the seeds are considered aphrodisiac, and given in uterine pain (Stewart).